ORDER COLEOPTEBA. 



Parnides. 



This subfamil) Is composed of insects which frequent water : their tlbifo are nnarmed 

 and narrow, and tlieir legs are formed for walking. They liave an oval body, more or less 

 convex, and the posterior part of the thorax is as wide as the abdomen or base of the elytra. 

 The antennie are short ; mandibles robust and notched at the tip, with their inner surftice 

 ciliattKl. As they frequent the water, their entire surface, as in Paum s, is covered with 

 cilia to retain air ; or, as in Elmis, in part oiliateil, for the same object. This arrangement 

 gives them oxygea when immersed in water. 



The two genera Parnus and Elmis are regarded as belonging to two subliimilies ; but 

 being closely related, it is sulhcient for our purpose to place them in juxtaposition. 



Parni'8 fastigiatus. (Plate x.xiii, fig. 7.) 



Body oval convex ; head retracted : color a drab brown ; thorax and elytra covei-ed with 

 a coat of fine appressed hair ; legs reddish on their outer sides. 



Elmis ckenatisI ( Plate xxiii, fig. 9.) 



Body convex, angulated, punctate, acute behind ; thorax and elytra marked with four 

 black dots, and a faint reddish stripe upon each ; legs reddish. 



Silphldes. 



The wide depressed or flat form of body is a reliable characteristic of a, part of this group. 

 They are always present in putrescent animal matter : wherever a carcase of an animal is 

 decaying, or even a bone not perfectly bleached, there we find numbers of the silphides. 

 The Necrophoeis, however, is much less depressed or flattened than the genus Silpha, 

 and seems at first sight to constitute a distinct group by itself. The latter are sometimes 

 called sexton beetles, from their habit of burying all the small dead animals which they 

 meet with. In this labor, they exhibit a great amount of industry and jierseverance, as well 

 as a high grade of instinct in seemingly devising means to accomplish an end. 



The anatomical characters of these beetles, as given by Westwood and others, are : 

 Antennse thickened at the tips ; palpi filiform and slender ; labrum transverse and. 

 epnarginate ; maxillfebilobed, the inner armed with a hook ; mandibles strong and exsert, 

 especially in Necrophorus ; thorax orbicular or semicircular, forming a kind of s^hield for 

 the head ; tarsi five-jointed-, the fourth nearly e<2Ua]ling the others. 



GxNus NECROPHORUS (Fab., Leach, Oliv.). 



' Body oblong ; elytra truncate ; club of the antennae large,, round, fbur-jointcd, perfoliate ; 

 ' maxillie unanned ' (Westwood). 



